To celebrate the upcoming Chinese New Year (welcome to the Year of the Dog!), Lotto NZ partnered with Imersia and Solnet to create a festival-themed game ticket using augmented reality (AR) to present an experience with more than two dimensions.

Use of AR on this scale is a national first for New Zealand, though some of you may recall seeing other recent applications of this developing technology. including Tangaroa the Maori god of the sea, who rose from the depths during the Tāmaki Herenga Waka Festival last year. After the success of gaming apps using AR such as Pokemon GO, Lotto NZ knew there was an opportunity to engage people playing its games in a different way. All they needed were the right project partners.

“We’ve seen Augmented Reality grow from a curiosity a couple of years ago, to an integral part of a mobile user experience. There is no doubt these technologies are here to stay and will only get more exciting.”, says Dr. Roy Davies, CTO for Imersia.

Imersia and Solnet, were called upon to develop the mobile application “Lucky Fortune” so it would work off an Instant Kiwi game ticket.

The collaborative partnership enabled delivery of the best solution in time for the New Year. Creation of the design concept for the Lucky Fortune mobile app started with six potential ideas, Lotto NZ and Imersia worked closely together to storyboard the customer journey and finalise every detail included in the 3D game environment, down to how the lanterns pop.

Solnet collaborated on overall strategy for the application delivery and programmed the Lotto NZ API to allow communication between the app and Lotto NZ’s existing systems. These vital systems integrations provide a seamless digital experience for customers.

“The Lucky Fortune application is highly interactive. You can explore the village by moving the scratch ticket around or by moving you phone to “live” in the space. There’s a game to play in this environment as well, where you tap the lanterns to pop them and reveal a prize,” says Grant Newman, Head of Production for Imersia. “It’s something different and it’s fun.”

Work on the mobile application began in September 2017. Completing an innovative project such as this in only 3.5 months showcases how fast the development process can be with the right expertise and technology in play. Imersia’s rapid AR development portal played a crucial part in the delivery of the project.

Emilia Mazur, General Manager, Corporate Communications and Social Responsibility at Lotto NZ, said, “We’re absolutely thrilled about the outcome of our partnership with Solnet and Imersia. The Lucky Fortune Instant Kiwi game ticket and mobile application offer customers a fresh gaming experience sure to delight.”

While the Lucky Fortune application soft launched on Tuesday, Jan. 18, the full launch was released on Sunday, Feb. 4. Stop into any Lotto NZ location to purchase your Instant Kiwi game ticket, download the app from Android Play Store or the Apple Store, and experience the Chinese New Year with AR!

About Solnet

Solnet is a leading provider of technology innovation for government and private enterprise, specialising in the development of solutions using open source technologies. From it’s origins as an enterprise systems integration partner, it has developed a cohesive set of core capabilities in the areas of application development, systems and platform integration, cloud services and digital transformation.

About Imersia.

We monetize experience using Augmented and Virtual Reality to tell stories. We influence behavior in favor of a brand or product with our AI and Analytics Cloud Engine.